Police issue urgent message to Saddleworth community to be vigilant after recent crime rise

GMP Saddleworth and Lees have issued an urgent message to the Saddleworth Community urging them to stay vigilant and alert after a string of crimes across the area.

On their Facebook page, they wrote: “We are seeing a rise in criminal activity that initially started at Springhead but has now moved right across the Saddleworth area.

“We need you our local Community to stay vigilant and stay alert.

“We have traveling criminals coming into the Saddleworth area particularly during the day committing burglaries.

“We have been getting reports of markings being found on doors, door frames and stone lintels around doors. These range from small blue crosses to 1″ white lines and single white dots.

“At this time we do not know what these markings represent. they are not of the same traditional markings left by criminals. We are working on this.

“We have also had reported to us that there has been matching scratch marks in stonework at addresses recently targeted at Greenfield.

“What we do not want to do is to scaremonger our community but we do now feel it necessary to highlight what is being reported and in return alert you, our local community.

“Please reassess your home security arrangements and make sure all weak areas are addressed.

“Keep wheelie bins inside your perimeters where ever possible as this is a leg up over gates and fences for our criminals. Keep garden tools all locked away as a shovel can easily derail patio doors and give our criminals entry.

“As your local Policing team we are out on patrol at all times of the day and night. We have uniformed and plain clothed teams out on the ground. We patrol our areas and utilize our intelligence streams to identify targets and vehicles that they use.

“We need you to be our eyes and ears in such a large and diverse community as we have at Saddleworth. If you see something, say something.

“Please don’t leave it as this could be the snippet of intelligence or activity that we are looking for. Together we will tackle this activity we need you all onboard with eyes peeled.”